Hot Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In Right Now

The "StressTest" column appears every Thursday on Fool.com. Check back weekly, and follow�@TMFStressTest�on Twitter.

Rising interest rates bring glad tidings for banks. As rates rise, they can start making loans with higher returns. Assuming they can keep funding costs from rising too quickly, that could garner them better interest rate spreads, which is still the way most banks make most of their money.

Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC  ) CEO Brian Moynihan recently highlighted that his bank would see a nice revenue bump from higher rates:

If you look at our disclosure on a 100 basis point parallel rise, you'd see a $3.5 billion to $4 billion of revenue impact. So that will help.

I can't think of too many circumstances when an extra $4 billion wouldn't help.

Other banks provide similar disclosures in their SEC filings. Wells Fargo� (NYSE: WFC  ) , for instance, calls the "most likely" scenario over the next 24 months one where the Federal Reserve's Fed Funds rate stays at 0.25%, and 10-year Treasury yields climb to 2.98%. But if the Fed Funds rate and Treasuries rise more -- to 1.25% and 3.98%, respectively -- the bank estimates its earnings could be as much as 5% higher than that "most likely" scenario.

Top 5 Information Technology Companies To Own For 2015: China BAK Battery Inc.(CBAK)

China BAK Battery, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, commercialization, and distribution of various standard and customized lithium ion rechargeable batteries. The company offers various products, including aluminum-case prismatic, cylindrical, lithium polymer, and high-power lithium battery cells. Its battery cells are the principal component of rechargeable batteries used to power cellular phones and smart phones; notebook computers, tablet computers, and e-book readers; portable consumer electronics, such as digital cameras, portable media players, portable gaming devices, personal digital assistants, camcorders, and Bluetooth headsets; and electric bicycles, light electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, cordless power tools, and uninterruptible power supplies. The company serves battery pack manufacturers, original equipment manufactures, and replacement battery manufacturers primarily in the People?s Republic of China, Taiwan, Hon g Kong, India, the United States, the Middle East, Italy, Germany, and Turkey. China BAK Battery, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is based in Shenzhen, China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ant贸nio Costa]
  China BAK Battery Inc. (NASDAQ: CBAK) still looks pretty good on the technical daily chart with volume expanding as it moves higher, MACD crossover too. CBAK continues to look bullish and had a decent day Friday. ( click to enlarge )

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  It's fun to be right, but there's such a thing as being a little too right, too fast. Such is the case with China BAK Battery Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAK) ... a stock yours truly was touting as a buy-worthy ticker just two days ago following news from Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) that it was getting into the battery-pack business so it could become its own supplier for its electric vehicle business (Tesla automobiles need a huge battery pack to run). If there was enough demand for a carmaker to get into the game, then surely it meant there was enough potential business for an established battery market to bear plenty of fruit for CBAK too.

Hot Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Intrepid Potash Inc (IPI)

Intrepid Potash, Inc.( Intrepid), incorporated on November 19, 2007, is a producer of muriate of potash (potassium chloride or potash) in the United States and are engaged the production and marketing of potash and langbeinite (sulfate of potash magnesia), another mineral containing potassium, magnesium, and sulfate, that is produced from langbeinite ore and as Trio when it refers to sales and marketing. Its Carlsbad assets consist of underground mining operations, which are supported by surface processing facilities. It is also operators of solar solution mining operations, as its Moab and Wendover facilities both utilize these techniques for recovering potash. Its revenues are generated from the sale of potash and Trio. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned five potash production facilities, three in New Mexico and two in Utah. Its two products are potash and langbeinite, which is marketed as Trio.

Potash

The Company derives revenues and gross margin are derived from the production and sales of potash. Its potash is marketed for sale into three primary markets: the agricultural market as a fertilizer, the industrial market as a component in drilling and fracturing fluids for oil and gas wells, and the animal feed market as a nutrient. Its sales of potash tend to focus on agricultural areas and feed manufacturers in central and western United States, as well as oil and gas drilling areas in the Rocky Mountains and the greater Permian Basin area.

Trio

Trio is marketed into two primary markets, the agricultural market as a fertilizer and the animal feed market as a nutrient. It markets Trio internationally through an exclusive marketing agreement with PCS Sales (USA), Inc. (PCS Sales) for sales outside the United States and Canada and through a non-exclusive agreement for sales into Mexico.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Gains are being seen elsewhere as well, except in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS). Agrium�Inc. (NYSE: AGU) was up almost 3% at $91.95 in late Monday trading, although this one held up much better in the destructive news phase when the alarming news roiled these stocks. The big winner is Intrepid Potash, Inc. (NYSE: IPI), with a gain of 7% to $16.20 in late-Monday trading.

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (POT), for instance, lost 16% last year, while Mosaic (MOS) dropped 15%, Intrepid Potash (IPI) plunged 26% and Agrium (AGU) declined 5.9%.

Hot Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Sonus Networks Inc.(SONS)

Sonus Networks, Inc. provides voice and multimedia infrastructure solutions. The company offers session border control (SBC), voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), and access and VoIP media gateway solutions that allow the delivery of voice and multimedia sessions over IP networks. Its products include GSX9000 Open Services Switch that enables voice traffic to be transported over packet networks; GSX4000 Open Services Switch; NBS9000 Network Border Switch that permits service providers to transform their time division multiplexing networks to IP; PSX Policy & Routing Server, which translates business policies into actual call control, routing, and service selection decisions; NBS5200 Network Border Switch that provides SBC functionality; and ASX Call Feature Server that provides local area calling and regulatory features for residential and enterprise markets. The company also offers Network Analytics Suite of performance management products, including NetScore network perf ormance analysis tool, NetAssure voice quality monitoring tool, and NetEng network audit and visualization engine that are used for the collection, monitoring, reporting, and notification of performance metrics. In addition, it provides professional consulting and services to support its IP communication solutions; and program management, network deployment design, softswitch and subscriber database design, network verification and audit, custom application and adaptor development, OSS and API integration, migration and upgrade, and managed services. The company serves long-distance and local exchange carriers, Internet service providers, wireless operators, cable operators, financial institutions, retailers, state and local governments, and multinational corporations. It sells its products primarily through a direct sales force in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. Sonus Networks, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Westford, Mass achusetts.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roberto Pedone]

  One networking player that's starting to move within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Sonus Networks (SONS), which provides networked solutions for communications service providers and enterprises in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. This stock has been red hot so far in 2013, with shares up 104%.

  If you take a look at the chart for Sonus Networks, you'll notice that this stock has been trending sideways for the past month, with shares moving between $3.25 on the downside and $3.72 on the upside. Shares of SONS have been finding support over the last month each time the stock has pulled back to its 50-day moving average. This stock is now starting to trend a bit higher and move within range of triggering a breakout trade above the upper-end of its sideways consolidating chart pattern.

  Traders should now look for long-biased trades in SONS if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance at $3.56 to $3.59 a share and then once it takes out its 52-week high at $3.72 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 2.50 million shares. If that breakout hits soon, then SONS will set up to enter new 52-week high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $5 to $5.50 a share.

  Traders can look to buy SONS off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $3.33 to $3.25 a share, or right below more support at $3.10 a share. One could also buy SONS off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

• [By Ben Fox Rubin]

  Sonus Networks Inc.(SONS) agreed to buy Performance Technologies Inc.(PTIX), a supplier of network communications products, for $3.75 a share, a 26% premium of Thursday’s close, or $42 million. The companies said the deal was worth $30 million, net of Performance Technologies’ cash and excluding acquisition costs. Performance Technologies shares jumped 24% to $3.70 premarket, just under the offer price.

Hot Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Bristow Group Inc (BRS)

Bristow Group Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides helicopter services to the offshore energy industry primarily in Europe, West Africa, North America, Australia, and internationally. Its helicopters are used principally to transport personnel between onshore bases and offshore platforms, drilling rigs, and installations, as well as to transport time-sensitive equipment to offshore locations. The company also offers helicopter flight training services to commercial pilots and flight instructors through its Bristow Academy with facilities in Titusville, Florida; Concord, California; New Iberia, Louisiana and Gloucestershire, England. In addition, it provides military training; and helicopter repair, engineering support, aircraft leasing, airport management, and search and rescue services. Bristow Group provides its helicopter services to integrated, national, and independent oil and gas companies. As of March 31, 2011, it operated a fleet of 569 aircraft. The comp any was founded in 1969 and is based in Houston, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Chris Hill]

  In this installment of Motley Fool Money, our analysts explain why they're watching Buckeye Technologies (NYSE: BKI  ) , Bristow Group (NYSE: BRS  ) , and Western Union (NYSE: WU  ) .

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Calling all cash flows
  When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Bristow Group (NYSE: BRS  ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Hot Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Texas Capital Bancshares Inc.(TCBI)

Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. operates as the holding company for Texas Capital Bank, National Association that provides various banking products and services for commercial and high net worth customers in Texas. It primarily engages in generating deposits and originating loans. The company?s deposit products include consumer checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as commercial checking accounts, lockbox accounts, cash concentration accounts, and other treasury management products. Its lending products portfolio comprises commercial loans and leases; real estate loans, including loans secured by properties, and temporary financing for commercial and residential property; construction loans consisting of single-family residential properties and commercial projects; loans held for sale; and letters of credit. The company also provides trust and wealth management services, including investment management, personal tr ust and estate services, custodial services, retirement accounts, and related services, as well as offers retirement products, including individual retirement accounts and administrative services for retirement vehicles, such as pension and profit sharing plans. Texas Capital Bancshares, Inc. has banking offices in Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and the Cayman Islands. As of December 31, 2010, it conducted business at nine full service banking locations and one operations center. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Charley Blaine]

  Also in the list: Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), up 13.31 percent; Citigroup (NYSE: C), up 8.8 percent; U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB), up 5.33 percent; and Texas Capital Bancshares (NASDAQ: TCBI) up 8.18 percent.

Hot Up And Coming Stocks To Invest In Right Now: Chromadex Corp (CDXC)

Chromadex Corporation, incorporated on June 19, 2008, is a provider of research and quality-control products and services to the natural products industry. The Company�� products are used by customers worldwide in the dietary supplement, food and beverage, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The Company together with its subsidiaries supplies phytochemical reference standards, which are small quantities of plant-based compounds used to research an array of potential attributes, and reference materials, related contract services, technical consulting and ingredients. On December 3, 2012, ChromaDex Inc. acquired Spherix Consulting Inc. The Company�� principal subsidiaries include ChromaDex, Inc., Chromadex Analytics, Inc. and Spherix Consulting, Inc (Spherix).

The Company provides its clients in the food, supplement and pharmaceutical industries with solutions to manage potential health and regulatory risks. Its science-based solutions are for both new and existing products that may be subject to product liability and/or exposed to changing scientific standards or public perceptions; literature evaluations, and design and assessment of pre-clinical and clinical safety testing. It specializes in regulatory submissions for food and dietary supplement ingredients. For its clients involved in drug development within the pharmaceutical industry, the Company provides similar services, as well as risk-based strategies, including intellectual property data and compliance gap identification, due diligence assessments and investigational new drug writing.

Products and Services

The Company offers bulk raw materials for inclusion in dietary supplements, food, beverage and cosmetic products. Through its catalog, it supplies a range of products necessary to conduct quality control of raw materials and consumer products. The Company through Chromadex Analytics, provides a range of contract services ranging from routine contract analysis for the production of dietary sup! plements, cosmetics, foods and other natural products to elaborate contract research for clients in these industries. The Company provides a range of consulting services in the areas of regulatory support, new ingredient or product development, risk management and litigation support. With an addition of Spherix, it provides regulatory approval and scientific advisory services.

The Company competes with Sigma-Aldrich, Phytolab, US Pharmacopoeia, Extrasynthese, Covance, Eurofins, and Silliker Canada Co.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Peter Graham]

  Small cap stocks Chromadex Corp (OTCMKTS: CDXC) and 22nd Century Group Inc (OTCBB: XXII) are, one way or the other, focused on natural products and have been getting some extra attention lately. Moreover, one of these stocks have been the subject of a disclosed investor awareness campaign. Keeping that in mind, are these two small cap stocks natural winners for investors? Here is a quick look: